Wrath of Atlantis
by Tryglaw
Summary: Two branches of Humanity, separated millenia ago, find themselves again. None is what the other would expect...
1. Chapter 1

_Standard disclaimer – no money is being made here, no infringement of copyrights is intended.  
This is just for the joy of writing and reading._

_Authors: Tryglaw, Lightning Count._

_- _

**_Wrath of__ Atlantis_**

_-_

_They say you can choose your friends, and pick your enemies.  
But familiy – that one you can't pick, there is no element of choice in there.  
Weather you want it or not, you have what you get.  
That simple truth would prove to have meaning much more profound,  
and alter the fates of those invloved to a degree far greater  
then anyone could have ever anticipated.  
You have what you get.  
And you must live with it.  
Then again...  
Maybe not..._

Red.

Everything around was red.

Sometimes bright red, sometimes dark red.

Blood red, on the average, though.

It flowed, and cicrled, and pulsed, and swirled.

And it other things as well.

Gazing at it too long could well drive one mad.

Or at least cause a severe case of nausea.

Which was probably why the external viewports of the six kilometer long behemoth patiently making it way through the infinite vastness of red were rarely used.

If ever.

Then again, they were used – when the vessel shifted from the infinity of redness to infinity of blackness, dotted here and there with stars and planets.

It was on those rare occasions, that the crew could look out, to gaze at an occasional celestial body, instead of the ever-shifting red.

This was their pourpose, after all.

Why the behemoth had been constructed in the first place.

To bring it's masters to new places, seek out ones where no-one has gone before.

Or at least not recently.

The ship has served it's crew true and well for the past three years, and their journey brought them further away from home then any of their species has ever been.

They had worked very hard in these three years, and had every reason to be proud of their accomplishments.

New solar systems had been discovered, charted, laid claim to, and once connected to the ancient network that had made interstellar travel posssible, declared ready for whatever use would be found for them.

Some would become settlement, others just mining operations, and still others would house military facilities and outposts, defending the remote colonies or supporting fleet operations in adjacent sectors.

Now, one last objective was left to accomplish, and then they would head back.

It was time, too.

They've been out there for so long, working so hard with so little breaks.

The crew of the ship was drained and exhausted, both physically and mentally.

But when called upon, they could handle all that, and more.

After all, they were the best their service had to offer.

Their people had made a terrible mistake, once.

A wrong man had been sent to the wrong place at the wrong time.

And the result of that mistake had nearly caused their extinction.

But their people had learned from that mistake.

So now, only the best, most capable of handling themselves in delicate situations were sent out on missions like the one currently conducted.

It made the assignment to a mission like that among the most prestigious available.

So they would continue to carry on with their duties, no matter how tired and exhausted they were.

Their professional pride would not let them anything short of that.

But the ship's vast stores were just as depleted.

They were filled to capacity at the beginning of the journey, but there was only so much they could take it.

And unlike the crew, the ship would not fly on pride and determination alone.

So they would go home.

Soon.

But not yet.

At their last stop, as they spent two weeks repairing and reactivating one of the ancient constructs, so many of which seemed to have been placed around, the ship's optical telescopes had spotted a habitable planet in a nearby system.

And so, once more did they subject themselves to the tiresome procedure of trying to navigate a new path through the swirling red mist, away from the safety granted by the ancient network.

Every few hours they would transition out, recaltulate their position and leave behind yet another in a long series of navigational buoys, like crumpets of bread that would let them find their way back through the infinite darkness.

And hoping no pidgeons would come to eat them away.

Finally, they made it.

They transitioned in on the edge of the system.

They slowly made their way in, as the ship's powerfull sensor arrays worked at full capacity, supported in the task by the deployment of a fleet of smaller craft to hasten the survey.

The local star was very similar to the one that rose each day above the horizon of their homeworld.

Five planets made the system, and an asteroid belt between the third and the fourth.

Three inner planets were solid, one of which was habitable – a rare boon indeed, habitable worlds resembling the one they evolved upon were rare and thus greatly coveted.

This discovery alone would fetch them a nice bonus.

The outer two planets were gassious, holding numerous moons in their gravitational grasp – not unlike the ones in their home system.

Detailed scans brought yet another reason to celebrate – one of the smallish moons orbiting the fourth planet held rich deposits of the rare and precious element which made interstellar flight possible.

That discovery too would be richly rewarded, and there was much excitement and impatience, as the restless crew counted down the time that separated them from embarking on their way back home.

They would head there soon enough, but for now...

A completely different sort of excitement dominated the crew.

Their scanners had revealed ruins of now obviosly extinct civilisation.

An advanced industrial civilisation at the very least.

Their cities were long gone, covered under vegetation.

But traces of road networks were still visible from orbit.

And even better yet... clearly discernable energy readins were being observed in the ruins.

Energy sources, stll active after what had to be millenia...

The prospect of finding something like that had always fueled their imaginations, had always been among their biggest hopes. The possibilites such discoveries might bring...

And now, they found what they were looking for.

Shuttle were sent down to inspect the scanned site.

It took the crews some time to clear away the foliage hampering their movements, which amply covered the few still standing buildings.

It took even more time to carefully navigate their way through the ruins without accidentaly upsetting or collapsing anything.

And atop of all that, even more time to carefully begin to unearth the treasures that were certain to be there.

Finally, a confused message went out from the surface to the huge ship in geostationary orbit.

"Ummm, boss ? You'd better take a look at this."

-

Earth Alliance Starship Agamemnon, en route to Proxima III.

The ship's master and commander, one EarthForce captain John Sheridan, was soundly asleep when his bliss was rudely interupted by a sound as annoying as persistant.

The comm beeper.

Years of training kicked in, allowing the said captain to gather his thoughts and force them into a coherent stream.

Knowing the vid cam's field of view, he didn't bother with the entire uniform, settling for just the duty jacket, and aswered the call.

As the logo loaded, he noted it was one of the rare occasions he'd get to chat over the Gold Channel.

And that ment two things – someone really high up was on the other side of the screen, and it wasn't to be a social call.

"General Hague, sir... !" he snapped at attention, the haze of sleepyness disappearing in an instant.

It wasn't every day that the Chief of Joint Staffs graced a mere starship captain with a personal call.

Even direct orders were being handed down via the chain of command.

So either whatever all this was about, was too important to involve more people then absolutely required, the time was too short for the usual path... or there was to be no paper trail.

None of which bode too well.

Not that he had problems with following orders, but surprises were what got people killed.

Especially surprises related to events of the really important or highly classified sort.

"At ease, captain. Your standing orders are hereby rescinded. You are to observe full communications silence, and procede to the Vega colony at best speed. There you will randez-vous with, and take charge of a supply convoy. You will also receive your full briefing there. Once you reach your final destination, you will be in overall command untill further notice. Inform your crew only after you've departed Vega. Need-to-know basis along with complete secrecy applies for all the involved. This one's important, captain, so stay sharp. You've been chosen for this directly by the president himself. Do well and you won't regret it. Good luck, you're going to need it. Hague, out."

"Now that was unexpected..." Sheridan muttered silently, as he went on to inform the bridge officer on watch of the unexpected course change.

Four days later, the Agamemnon entered local space above the Vega colony.

The supply convoy was waiting allready.

That's if an Explorer-class vessel accompanied by two Omega destroyers could be considered to make one.

There was something very odd about this...

"Captain, the ships in orbit register as the explorer Cortez, the destroyers Heracles and Pollux..."

Sheridan clasped.

"Well people, you're in for a real treat. Take a good look. If you're supremely lucky, you may see two ships like her in your lifetime."

That much was true, there were only a few Explorer-class vessels in service, and bulk of the time they were somewhere out there, extending Earth's reach.

So having one assigned for shipping duty was something unheard of.

As for the other ships...

Sheridan knew the captain of the Heracles by his reputation. Trevor Hall was known to be a skilled and flexible tactician, if a bit overly agressive. The other captain, Elizabeth Morgenstern... he knew only her name.

"...we are being hailed by the Cortez."

"Put him on."

The viewscreen changed from tactical readout to a middle-aged man in EarthForce uniform.

"Glad you could make it, Swamp Rat. We were about to go without you." the man on the other side of the screen chuckled.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world, Stinky. So what's this all about ?"

"Not over the comm. Grab your XO and come over. Other captains will be here too."

The shuttle trip didn't took very long, and soon enough captain Sheridan and commander David James, his second-in-command, found themselves in the impressively large conference room of the Cortez.

Captain Jack Maynard did the honors of the house.

"Ladies and gentlemen, may I present – captain Elizabeth Morgenstern of the Pollux, captain Trevor Hall of the Heracles, and last but not least, captain John Sheridan of the Agamemnon. And of course..." - pointing to one man in Army uniform - "colonel Ari Ben Zayn of the 57th Mechanised Infantry Brigade, which has been attached to our merry band."

Handshakes and greetings were exchanged, as Ben Zayn spoke:

"Captain Sheridan, I must say I look forward to this mission. It will be a honour to serve under your command. A pity so few of our people could fix the boneheads as you did."

"I did what I could. That it worked... I was surprised myself. A child should have seen the trap. Guess they were overconfident."

"Don't be so modest, captain." Hall jumped in "You took their flagship and their pride. If they were arrogant enough to underestimate you – so much the better. I'm sure if it comes to that, we'll be well off under your command. The president was right to place you in charge."

"I must admit, I was surprised myself. When the order came we were heading for the Proxima colony to take part in anti-piracy operations."

"Well, Swamp Rat, you owe me for this one..." Maynard chuckled again "I know you always wanted an Explorer, but it seems the president had you in mind to take charge of Babylon 5, now that commander Sinclair had been reassigned. However, when I suggested you for this operation he agreed immediately."

With the attention focused on the two, none had seen the brief flash of anger on Ben Zayn's face, when Babylon 5 and commander Sinclair were mentioned.

But it was gone as quickly as it came.

"As much as I'd like to continue this exchange, I do not believe my curiosity over the upcoming assignment can wait much longer..." captain Morgenstern interrupted "...perheaps we could continue this after the briefing".

Everybody present caught her hint of cutting the idle chatter and getting to the point.

Maynard continued in his relaxed manner, all while handing out datacrystals:

"Well then... Here are your orders in the writing. As ordered by the General Staff, our entire mission is strictly Top Secret, total communication silence it to be observed from now on. You, as the commanding officers, will now be given a full briefing. Your subordinates are to be briefed only after we depart Vega. Strict need-to-know basis applies."

"Well then, as you probably know, the Cortez departed Earth space three years ago, heading for the Rim. We spent some time doing maintenance work on jumpgates leading there, and then spent the next two years mapping most of Sector 900. As we were about to conclude our tour and head back, we struck the proverbial gold."

He activated a holo-emitter.

"Here, outer edge of Sector 900. Placed on the edge of our spiral arm of the galaxy, facing Core-wards. This is as rimmy as it gets. Here we found it."

A holo-image of an Earth-like planet popped up.

"As you can see, the planet is similar to Earth, even if quite a bit warmer. The tropical jungle area is much larger. Plus both the local day, and the solar year are longer then on Earth. Now here..."

First a pulsing dot indicated a specific area on the surface, then the view changed to what clearly was taken during an overflight. The surface was covered in a thick forrest, with some ruins still visible.

"...is where it gets really interresting. There were no signs of a natural catastrophy, and none of the usual signs suggesting the population died out due to a plague. Thus we believe the planet was evacuated and abandoned."

The audience seemed only mildly impressed, ruins were nice and interesting and all that, from an archeological point of view, but so far it only ment some rich people were going to get fancy antiques to show off to their fellow rich people.

"Despite all those millenia, we've found active energy singatures there. That was what caught our attention in the first place. But that's nothing.."

The curiosity of those attending got up a notch or two. It was then that the proverbial bomb fell.

"...because the local civilisation was clearly Human."

That single short sentence was probably the biggest single surprise since the Minbari surrender after The Line.

"Yes, yes. I know it sounds unbelievably, and we were just as surprised to find mortal remains of undeniably Human origin. A lucky find pretty much, what little remained in what we believe to have been a crashed short-range aircraft. Imagine our surprise when we ran the DNA scan... Anyway, the local ruins come from a clearly Human culture too. We did an initial survey, left our attached IPX survey team behind to keep working, and came home at full burn to get reinforcements. For security reasons, we've scrambled the last two jumpgate beacons leading to our objective, so we needen't worry about anyone else getting there uninvited. Once we get there, we're to formally claim the place for Earth, fortify it, see what fancy stuff we can dig up, and of course, find out whatever happened with those displaced Humans. If the opportunity presents itself, we are to establish first contact with them, and hopefully pave the way towards their eventual reunification with Earth. Last but by no means least, we are to asess the potential threats from whichever aliens abducted those Humans all the millenia ago. In no uncertain terms, we are to conduct ourselves in the most corteous and diplomattic manner we can. Earth can ill afford another Minbari War, and those folks have been out there for far longer then the Minbari have been."

"Now then, the Cortez and the destroyers are filled to capacity with troops, hardware and supplies. Once the Agamemnon's stores are loaded as well, we'll be on our way. And it's a six week trip we're looking at. So..." he clasped "let's be about it, shall we ?"

-

Somewhere a long way away.

Uncontrollably and much to his annoyance, he sneezed. The sudden expulsion of air and moisture served only to marr and disrupt his intense work, dropping a trickle of liquid on the floor he was busy studying, his nose on average barely an inch above the ground.

With a curse he knelt up, wiping the brown dust from his face that had been thrown up by the tiny explosion and from his height took a moment to examine the floor. He was inside a building, or at least part of a building, most of its roof had fallen in uncounted years ago but enough survived to give some measure of shelter around the edges.

Nature had invaded this relic of sentience, the walls cracked and draped in curtains of green ivy while weeds and grass sprang from between stones. The sun had bleached much of the paint work and wind had worn down the edges of the carvings and statues, but while the details had faded the spirit remained.

Max Eilerson appreciated the statue on a podium a few feet away, a youthful frolicking female with a garland of flowers on her stone head. She was as human as any denizen of Earth and while the years had taken their toll the statue was still very clearly a representation of a young human girl. On a previously unknown planet. Lightyears from Earth. Thousands of years old.

Eilerson liked a mystery, but he liked answers more. Plus all the money, fame and prestige which came with such answers and right now he suspected this was going to be something very special.

His team had been dropped off after the initial survey, a few prefab shelters and the lone Icarus-class scout vessel their only touches of modern human technology in this place of ancient stones and worn statues. He had been busy excavating a clay vase, decorated in almost exactly the same way as ones housed in the museum of antiquities back on Athens when the thunder caught his attention.

The sky was clear blue with a few white wisps, whatever the rumbling noise in the sky was a natural event it was not.

"Eilerson to base camp, what is that?" He spoke into a communicator on his jacket lapel.

"That's the follow up team boss." Came the reply. "Doctor Morito I'd guess."

"Very well, I'll go meet them." He ended the message. "Great, here to grab my credit."

He rose to his feet, brushing the dust from his trousers and packing his tools away. The air was beautiful and fresh, no trace of pollution or industry. The whole area was heavily wooded with a few ancient paths leading around the ruins and down to a lake, where likewise a smaller set of ruins now stood.

Disgruntled and increasingly defensive, he left the building and went to meet the new team.

The landing was as graceful as a brick hitting a pond, which was not a distant description of what was actually happening. The IPX survey ship laboured to slow itself down, its wings aiding the descent but not by much, only the eight downward swivelled engines gave it the control to land rather than crash.

The roaring blast of the engines scoured the earth under the ship, with no artificial gravity to ease through the air the landing was as noisy and unsubtle as the ship itself, an angled grey ship that was unmistakeably human. The dual emblems of Earth Force and IPX painted brightly on the hull.

It settled on its short landing gear, then powered down giving Eilerson the time he needed to approach before the ramp opened.

"Max!" A short bald man of Japanese heritage stomped down onto the ground. "Good to see you. Quite a find, eh?"

"Yeah, I've already made a number of discoveries." Eilerson emphasised his own personal success. "If you've got time I'l give you a tour."

"Sure, love to." He beamed. "Just let them offload a buggy, I hate walking."

Eilerson said nothing, briefly examining the waist of Morito and guessing that was probably true.

"So you came back with the Cortez?"

"More than that." The more senior IPX man said. "Small fleet of warships too, the initial data was enough to convince Earth Force that this was worth putting our stamp on."

"With warships?"

"They aren't taking any chances, and Earth does have a legit claim to the place after all. Guess what, Sheridan himself is in charge up there." Morito stated. "So, come on! Show me this place!"

"Who?"

"John Sheridan, don't you know ? He's the guy who scored the Minbari flagship back in the War."

"Oh? They must take it really seriously, then..."

"Yes, I heard the President himself chose him for this one."

They climbed into one of the small four wheel drive vehicles unloaded from the survey ship and set off, leaving the rest of the expedition to unpack more permanent buildings and larger vehicles laden with scientific tools.

As they drove on grey shuttles and drop ships began arcing through the sky.

"Who are they?" Eilerson asked.

"Mechanised Infantry. An entire brigade of them." Morito said. "Like I said, Earth is taking this very seriously."

"I wasn't aware this was now a military mission?"

"The President pulled a few strings." His companion said. "You know Clark is one of our biggest supporters."

"Clark, the president ? Whatever happened to Santiago ?"

"Right... you've been out of the loop for a while. There's been a tragic accident, president Santiago died along with most of his staff when EarthForce One suffered a critical engine failure. Clark's in charge now."

"Well, I never had him down as a keen archaeologist."

"He knows an opportunity when it jumps up at him."

The bounced over a bit more undergrowth before arriving on a large relatively clear plateau. A large assortment of ruins dominated the area, clearly the largest set of remains yet discovered set in a large circle.

Eilerson stopped the vehicle. "Well here is the main dig, we've focused our efforts up here and made a lot of discoveries. With a full expedition on the planet should get even better."

"This is excellent!" Morito enthused. "Look at these pillars!"

"Corinthian." Eilerson stated. "You can find almost perfectly identical ones on Earth."

"Everything here seems to have a Grecian feel to it, like uncovering an original Olympic stadium or temple on Earth."

"Might not be far from the truth." Eilerson replied. "We found evidence that not only was this place built in a greek style but that it was dedicated to a Greek figure."

"Amazing, who?"

"The Goddess Athena. It seems the main part of these ruins was a temple dedicated to Athena." Eilerson continued. "At one point it would have been a remarkable structure, superior to anything on Earth. The Parthenon seems a cheap copy by comparsion."

"How do you know it was for Athena?"

"I translated several inscriptions." Eilerson responded not so humbly.

"So quickly?"

"Yes." Eilerson nodded. "I am a genius after all, that's why I have such a generous fee."

Morito scoffed. "Yeah, don't we all know it." He shook his head in disapproval. "Anyway, what else?"

"As you can see from the statues that survived whoever carved them was human."

"Or human like?"

"Maybe, but after close studies I'd say the art here is not just of humans, but done in human style."

"This is just incredible." Morito smiled. "The money we can make out of this place…"

"There are a few little questions though." Eilerson reminded. "First this structure couldn't be replicated on Earth, not at the time of Ancient Greece anyway, even though it is in that style."

"Why not?"

"Pure engineering, the technology didn't exist back then. So whoever did build it was more advanced than the classical Greeks. Lots more advanced, we have other evidence."

"Such as?"

"Some of the stone work looks like it was cut with lasers, yeah, lasers, and the statues are too perfect. No polishing or carving marks. Some of this stuff would be difficult to do today, but back in the days of Socrates? No way."

"What about dating?"

"Well we measured the Carbon content of the atmosphere and set up our carbon dating machines to come up with an approximate date. The homies were here from no less then ten thousand years ago, possibly longer, to around five thousand years ago. When we were building the Pyramids and predating the height of ancient Greece."

"So these aren't Greek buildings, the Greek buildings were patterned after these."

Morito looked again at the ruins, noticing some rough angles. "How do you think this place fell apart?"

"Oh that's easy, someone blew it up." Eilerson replied.

"Blew it up?"

"The initial survey missed it, and the sings did fade over time, but once we got down to detailed search we found them. You can see blast marks, energy weapon impacts, shattered debris consistent with high speed impacts. This place got smashed by someone with a lot of power, far more than a bunch of hoplites with spears could ever hope to wield."

"This is getting better and better, an advanced race at least ten thousand years old or more, and we get to look around. Who knows what else we might find... And just think of the premium that any high-tech will fetch."

"You might have noticed from orbit certain stretches of land or water that had a fairly defined shape." Eilerson mentioned. "Evidence of ancient orbital strikes. Mix of beam and kinetic weapons I'd guess. Judging by the locations by rivers or sea shores there used to be cities there. These temple grounds here were probably too small to warrant an orbital strike. Ground troops finished it off. I'd say this place was destroyed as one of the last."

"Do we have any idea who could do this? Any race we know? Minbari? Yolu?"

"I don't think they were old enough." Eilerson shook his head. "At least not to have brought these folks here in the first place. This must be something entirely new."

They climbed back into the vehicle and drove away, going around lumps of masonry and back into open ground.

"If there was violence have you found any remains?" Morito asked.

"Some corpses early on." Eilerson answered. "Lots of evidence of fire and destruction, too little remained to hint about who exactly lived here."

He drove them down a winding steep slope, the odd piece of ruined building hinting that this had once been more built up.

"We found a number of other buildings that match the basic shape of those on Earth." Eilerson explained. "Theatres, baths, some villas and houses. We don't know what the larger cities look like but with the full expedition and ships in orbit we might find some areas that have survived enough to investigate."

They found some flatter ground and drove on.

"We did find something a little interesting, just in this glade here."

The vehicle halted in front of a plain stone door set into a rock face. The two men stepped out and examined it closer.

"So what is it?"

"According to the inscription." Eilerson pointed out. "Athena's tomb."

Morito paused. "What? As in _the _Athena? The actual Goddess?"

"That's the literal translation, yeah."

"So a dead Goddess is in there?"

"Or someone who pretended to be a Goddess, yeah."

"An old Earth Goddess, on a distant world full of Greek style ruins." Morito considered. "One of

the advanced aliens who started all this?"

"That would be my guess." Eilerson agreed. "Maybe also the answers we need about this place and why it has so many similarities to Earth."

Morito nodded. "Well, I think we need to get in there."

"Yeah, we really do. I hope the troops brought blasting charges."


	2. Chapter 2

Wrath of Atlantis

Chapter 2.

"How did I get into this again..." wondered general Lefcourt, observing on a vid-screen as two groups of Drazi, one sporting green sashes, the other purple ones, were doing their best to beat the living crap out of each other.

_Flashback._

"...of Babylon 5 is entirely unacceptable !" - hollered the recently sworn-in president Clark.

Sadly, he seemed to have a point.

"So let us review the situation again." Clark attempted to calm down, a stell edge still in his voice. "We had actual, honest-to-God, immortality serum in our hands. And what did this pathetic excuse for an EarthForce officer do? He bowed down to diplomatic pressure of the League. The League!" The President was incredulous. "The same fucking bastards who turned their backs on us during the Minbari War! He had the damn station with it's twice damn security at his disposal, and failed to outwit a bunch of whining aliens. Am I the only one who has a problem with that?"

No one dared answer.

"Even I could do better, like locking them down in a corridor or an elevator, or out the nearest bastard airlock! And I'm just a civilian! Or just gun them down and to hell with it, it's not like the League has managed to actually grow a spine recently. Speaking of which – so they sent a few ships, why the hell did we not respond by sending a bastard destroyer squadron to show them we're not to be screwed with? Aliens can't be allowed to do as they please by pointing guns at our stations! Not without severe consequences! It's a matter of principles. Hell, if we had warships on the spot that Dilgar bitch might have still been alive! That moron Sinclair can consider himself lucky the boneheads wanted him for an ambassador."

Clark crunched his fists, still fuming over the news.

"He's to be blacklisted immediately. Understood? And before you start with that "key ingredients can't be synthesised" line, I'm positive our brightest minds would have found a way around it. Cloning or stem cells for all I care."

Clark briefly paused, much to the relief of the two generals present. Then drank some orange juice from a glass on the table, and went forth.

"Next case. A member of the Centauri Royal Court, Lord Kiro, is abducted in broad daylight from the station. And by whom? Narn assassins? Rogue Minbari warrior clan? No, that would be too much to ask. Raiders took him, common scumbag brigands bested what's supposed to be EarthForce's very best! And yes, I do know that our people took out their fighters. But the damn mothership still got away, along with the hostage! For God's sake! Babylon 5 was supposed to be a showcase facility, something to show off to aliens! Our best tech operated by our best people. Have you got any idea how does this make us look in the field of interstellar diplomacy? Have you?"

Nobody made comment, they let Clark flow until he burnt himself out. They had a long wait.

"The Centauri ambassador told me afterwards, that we "make even the Narns look positively intelligent by comparsion, and should seriously consider hiring their security advisors. They are at least competent when sober." What the hell was that supposed to mean? Does someone of the station's command crew have a drinking problem? Do look into that for me, will you?"

The Generals, William Hague and Robert Lefcourt, both winced. As much as they hated to admit it, Clark once again had a point in this. Even if under the circumstances EarthForce personnel did as good as they could – end results could hardly be argued with.

"And last but not least, the final debacle. What we have allowed, yes, allowed to slip from our grasp was probably the greatest single technological boon ever. And what did EarthForce do? Deploy one, lousy heavy cruiser. One! Am I to understand this is all we can afford to send when our key interests are in question? Why not at least a squadron of cruisers? Hell, an Omega battlegroup should have been sent to swarm the area the moment the news had reached EarthDome!"

"With all due respect, sir, that decision came from EarthDome, the General Staff did want to send a bigger force but was overturned by the Secretary of Defense. He wanted to prevent a possible escalation." General Hague respectfully answered.

"And I fired the half-wit on my first day." Clark sneered. "But the fact remains, that ancient construct is now firmly in Minbari hands. They don't seem to be doing a damn thing about it, and while I don't buy the crap about the "planet belonging to itself" for a second, just by keeping the bloody thing out of the hands of others they get to keep their tech edge, preserving the current status quo. Nothing short of a full planetary assault would dislodge that... Draal I think, from there, and we can't take the chance of round two with the boneheads. Not yet."

Clark scored another point, and everyone present knew that.

"Well then, what's done is done and there's no point complaining about spilt milk. I will be watching the situation closely however, and fully expect it to improve. General Lefcourt – now that this idiot Sinclair resides on Minbar, Babylon 5 needs a new commander. I had Captain Sheridan originally in mind, but his unique skills will be best used otherwise. However, Earth does need to emphasise the importance of Babylon 5, and will do so by appointing a commanding officer of suitable rank and experience." Clark smiled, and Lefcourt could feel acid rising in his stomach. "Congratulations – you're it."

Before the much surprised officer in question could say a thing, Clark gestured him to remain silent.

"Before you say anything – I have considered a number of candidates, and none fits in as good as you do. I'm sure I won't be disappointed. But now let's talk about the latest development. You've read the Cortez report, so let's hear it. Where do we stand at the moment, and how does EarthForce plan to rise up to the challenges ahead?"

Clark seated himself with this, letting his guests to take it from there.

General Hague, being the senior officer, rose and began.

"Mister president, first of all on behalf of EarthForce I would like to state, that this... revelation is something we find upsetting and unacceptable. What was done to our people makes the Vree abductions look like harmless pranks. We cannot, and will not, let history repeat itself. EarthForce will do everything it can to prevent any alien group from subjecting Humanity to such... defilement ever again."

Hague was utterly sincere, he didn't have the measure of Clark as a leader yet, but his responsibility as military commander of Earth Force was clear.

"Now then," He continued, "as to our plans for the future. It must be said that it is the hope of General Staff, and EarthForce as such mister President, that your administration will turn out to be more understanding and forthcoming to the needs of the military."

Clark nodded enthusiastically "My greatest dream, General, is to see Earth strong and safe. To take us back to where we were after the Dilgar War. To restore our pride and self-confidence. To make sure Earth will never again be subjected to, or become dependant upon whims of alien powers. And I pledge to do whatever I can to achieve that aim."

"Then, on behalf of EarthForce, I thank you, sir. And we all do look forward to working with you towards reaching what are our common goals." Hague confirmed

"As for the "Cortez report Sir. In the aftermath of the Minbari War, EarthForce found itself literally gutted, both in terms of hardware and skilled personnel. The latter was far more painful, as ships are far easier to replace then skilled officers to man them. Still, our current astro-political situation is good.

The Centauri are still stagnant, the Narns still hate their guts and don't seem to have any other goals other than getting even with the Republic, the Minbari still maintain their "splendid isolation", and the League worlds are still squabbling among themselves. Plus the Vorlons, they are still as withdrawn as ever. Thus, there are no direct, immediate threats to Earth's security that we'd need to worry about."

He paused

"One thing that worries us is the recent destruction of the Narn facility in Quadant 37. The Narns had a heavily defended military outpost in there, and whoever destroyed it out managed to do so very rapidly, without leaving any traces behind. There were no survivors among the Narn personnel, and no recordings have been found either. As there were no traces of the attackers, we assume they lost none of their own ships in the operation, or managed to clean up before the Narns came to check up on their base."

He let the implications weigh in a little.

"Either way, a surprise strike of this magnitude and effect implies the use of overwhelming force, as well as very good intel on the target disposition. So the question is – who did it? The list of those with the capacity for such an operation is rather short. The Vorlons don't seem to care about what's going on between other governments, as long as they are not bothered with it. The Minbari would not strike without provocation, and would not bother to hide their involvement afterwards. It's not like the Narns would actually dare to do anything about it. The League worlds are a non-issue.

As for the Centauri... The Centauri Republic has the capacity, but lacks the will for such a stunt. However Mr. President, we do have a theory regarding the Centauri. It might have been the Centauri, but not the Centauri Republic."

Clark raised an eyebrow "Oh? I'm all ears then. Do elaborate."

The president suddenly seemed to become much more interested in the discussion.

"Well, sir. Our spies in the Centauri Court have reported a peculiar rumour, circling in the upper echelons of power. Apparently, at the height of the Quadrant 37 crisis, as the Republic was about to concede the sector, all in the interest of "interstellar peace" and in line with emperor Turhan's appeasement policy, one Londo Mollari, the Centauri ambassador to Babylon 5, sent the Court a most unusual message. The message is supposed to have stated that, and I quote, "He will personally take care of the problem in Quadrant 37." It was initially seen as a joke, our spies reported bets were going on, either on how badly was Mollari drunk when he sent this, or whether the pressure made him finally snap and go insane. For a week or so, ambassador Mollari was the favourite subject of jokes and mockery in the Court, much to the chagrin of his three wives... Then the Narn outpost went silent, and ships sent to investigate found out it has been completely wiped out."

Hague gave the President an even stare.

"As you can imagine, Mr. President, no more mockery was made of Londo Mollari afterwards..."

Clark nodded "Well General, we could always leak that information to the Narns, try pit the two against each other... But back to the Centauri. I take it Mollari is now an all-time favourite of the Court?"

"Indeed, at least amongt some of it's factions, and the star of the good ambassador seems to be on the rise. The Centauri can well appreciate results without looking too closely at the methods. Taking out such a large military facility must have taken a large, well trained and equipped military force, one that Mollari has managed to gather without anyone taking notice. And best of all from the Centauri perspective, with no traces and no evidence left behind, the Narns don't suspect a thing. All while the Republic was spared another public humiliation. The Emperor does not seem too pleased about it, but under the circumstances and with no solid evidence pointing in either way..." Hague shrugged. "Plus there are other factors to be considered. "

"What do you mean by this, exactly?"

"Mr. President, Emperor Turhan is old, and our intelligence indicates his health is declining. He does not have much time left. With the death of his son, Prince Beyon, there is no clear line of succession. His appeasement policies toward the Narn are universally despised. In short, what we are looking at could well be the first stages of their internal power struggle, one that fully erupts once the Emperor passes away."

"A civil war then?"

"We think not. Although of course it will all depend on how the internal situation develops, but the Centauri have a long tradition of settling such matters in cloak and dagger style. Mortality rates will jump among their top-level power brokers, but an open, armed conflict between the factions is most unlikely. However, we do know that there was once a Mollari on the Centauri throne. It could be that the current Mollari will try to repeat history and wrestle the throne for himself - either by himself, or by aligning with some other factions. Either that or he'll strike a deal with some other factions, and support their bid for power in exchange for some lesser, but still prominent, position. Prime Minister for example."

"In this case we'll need to keep an eye on ambassador Mollari." Clark decided. "Do take care of it, there's no spending limit on this one. But... assuming a militant faction comes into power once Turhan is no more, what does in mean for Earth's security?"

"As you know sir, we enjoy good, friendly relations with the Centauri, both of a political and economical nature. There are no contested issues between us, so there shouldn't be any immediate changes in the status quo. However, it is well known that the Centauri at large long for the "good old days" to come back. If a militant faction is in charge of the Republic, a war with the Narns is not a question of "if", but "when".

"And the answer General?"

"Soon sir, I'd expect very soon. A war with the hated Narns would be useful for any Centauri regime in many ways. As a rallying cry, to silence internal opposition, gather overwhelming popular support, give an excuse to cement and consolidate their grip on power as a "war-time necessity", and also divert the public attention towards front line action, and safely away from internal developments. Additionally, a Narn-Centauri war may well be assured for yet another reason I will elaborate upon later."

"Right... What's the estimated outcome?"

"Centauri victory, sir." Hague said confidently. "We assume that barring unforeseen events, the Republic will decisively crush the Narns in 15 to 18 months."

"That soon? I would have thought the Narns would do better then that. Surely not beat the Centauri, but at least fight them into a standstill. Hell, we lasted longer against the Minbari, and they had far greater an edge over us then the Centauri have over the Narns."

"That's true, but I firmly believe EarthForce is a far better fighting force then the Narn military."

"In that, General, I firmly believe too."

"Thank you, sir. But there is more to it than that – the Centauri enjoy the benefit of having a coherent military force, in form of the Royal Navy. While the Noble Houses do have their own forces, what they have is more akin to glorified Coast Guard then actual Space Navy. The Minbari military on the other hand suffers from being deeply fractured – their society is divided into castes, and the castes into clans. The castes are largely autonomous from each other, as are the clans within the castes. While their ruling body does have overall control over their military assets, each of the clans operates chiefly on it's own. The situation resembles that of medieval Europe, with the complicated relations between feudal landlords.

But as for the Narns – they are at a critical point currently. On one hand, they have reached their military peak, by shifting their entire war-fleet to G'Quon-class heavy cruisers. All older capital ships have been completely withdrawn from front-line service, and either decommissioned or relegated to garrison duties.

From the military point of view, were the Narns to fight a war, then there'd be no better time then now. Especially if we understand "now" as the timeframe between Turhan's death and the new Centauri regime entrenching itself. The Narns could then try to take advantage of initial confusion, aiming for either a quick victory, or at least trying to inflict enough damage to put the Centauri on the defensive."

"Why do you believe the Centauri will gain the upper hand, then?"

"A number of reasons sir. Even if the Narns attack before any of the factions manages to grasp the power, the Centauri Royal Navy will still fight back, with no regard to the situation at the Court. The Minister of War will keep his office until a new one is appointed. Unless of course someone assassinates him – but that's unlikely, the Royal Navy is traditionally neutral when it comes to succession struggles, and no single faction would risk pushing it into the opposite camp. Plus, for all that can be said about them, the Centauri know better then to jeopardise the security of the Republic in such difficult times. The Royal Navy will fight until a new Emperor takes the throne, which usually doesn't take very long. A week, two at best, and the issue of succession is settled. The Centauri are really good at such matters."

"Well that's all good to know, but how is it relevant to how the war will play out?"

"Sir. In the absence of an Emperor, both the Prime Minister and the War Minister can assume emergency powers and proclaim general mobilisation. We estimate the Royal Navy can by itself, if not hold the Narns at bay then at least keep them from getting where they need to get. Even with the element of surprise, the Narns won't get far enough to inflict crippling damage on key Centauri infrastructure, which is deep within their space.

The Narns can, and will make them bleed, but won't be able to force the Republic to seek a diplomatic solution early into the conflict. And once the new Centauri leadership gets it's act together and the full might of the Republic is brought to bear... From there things will go only downhill for the Narns."

"And why is that? You said yourself the Narns are at their peak at the point."

"That is true - but to achieve this, the Narns have all but gutted their economy. This means they could use a few years, better a decade, to recover from the buildup cost. They are in many ways a typical case of "first world military with a third world economy behind it", as the classical saying goes. Their economy simply lacks the resources to support a prolonged full-scale conflict. A year is in our opinion all they can afford. Their only hope is to deal a decisive blow in the opening phase, and thus either force the Centauri to the table, or use those initial victories to highlight Centauri weakness and decay in order to get someone to support them. The Drazi have an axe to grind with the Republic, and would be likely candidates.

Such a development, being forced to fight a two-front war, could place the Centauri in a difficult situation. But even then, we believe them to be capable of winning, albeit at a much greater cost.

As you said sir, the Centauri don't have as much of an edge as the Minbari had over us, but what they do have is quite enough. They have a key advantage in power generation, in form of antimatter reactors. Combined with their superior engines, the Centauri enjoy a decisive edge in strategic mobility. Add their superior weapons and sensors... They are also known for their excellent tactics, and the Royal Intelligence Service is among the best out there. Now consider also that their technological and industrial base outclasses those of the Narns and the Drazi in just about every way. Between out producing their enemies, and having an edge in all key aspects of warfare, the conflict can go only one way."

Clark saw the reasoning "Hmmm, I think I see what you're trying to say. But we're getting sidetracked in here, so let's drop the Narns and the Centauri for now and focus on the Cortez Report. What do you intend to do in order to prepare EarthForce for whatever might come out of it?"

"That, sir, will require you support, now that we know that we have it. As I said before, in the aftermath of the Minbari War, EarthForce found itself literally gutted. We've been doing our best to replace the lost ships and personnel, but sadly the previous administration was not very supportive of us. EarthForce was chiefly blamed for the disastrous conflict, and I must admit to a degree rightly so. Now between the political fallout and the economic crisis that ensued, the resources we were assigned allowed us to rebuild as a defensive force only. We were to keep our borders safe but nothing more. Especially not provoke another debacle like the one with the Minbari. And towards that aim, our capacity for strategic projection of power and offensive capabilities were not to be rebuilt. This is why the Omega-class in termed a "destroyer" - because it is one, albeit badly oversized and capable of carrying fighters. But with it's limited armament, a battleship it is not. A Nova had 16 forward-facing primary cannons, the Omega has only 2. Likewise, the Nova had 12 aft-facing heavy guns, the Omega only 4, and of course, no broadside armament worth the name"

Hague rattled off the numbers.

"For a capital ship of this size, the Omega is badly undergunned. Although there is nothing wrong with the main hull, and the simulated gravity is a blessing, the weapons' payload is woefully inadequate. We need to remember however that is was a rushed design, and it's armament was determined by post-Minbari war political climate, not EarthForce. To remedy the situation, we would like to submit the Omegas in service to a... "mid-life" update, to address the issues I've just mentioned. All new units would be built to this standard as well. This would be one part of a far broader programme designed to increase our military strength. We have tried to convince previous administrations, but so far with no effect. We hope your administration will be more forthcoming."

"I'll need to know more details before agreeing to anything, General. I did hear bits and pieces about this before, but defense wasn't my turf until now." Clark admitted. "So let's hear it, then."

"As you wish. The key intent is to get rid of all pre-Minbari War designs still in service. This includes the Novas, the Hyperions, Olympuses, and Aurora-class Furies. Until the Warlock-class enters service, hopefully in five to six years, the retrofitted Omega-class will become our sole capital ship of the line, and the Thunderbolt become the only fighter in service. This will significantly improve the strength of our fleet, and have the added bonus of simplifying logistics and all of the technical issues involved."

"I may be no military expert, but even I know that using ships of the line for law enforcement duties is a waste. And our budget is not made of rubber General." Clark tried to inject a little humour. "If you withdraw the cruisers, how are you going to keep the spacelanes safe? Unless you intend to chase Raiders with battleships? And speaking of Raiders, when is EarthForce going to do something about them? Do you know how much Raider activities cost us per annum? The loss of life, ships and cargo, the increased insurance fees, the penalties for undelivered shipments... We're talking billions, General. Billions of credits going down the drain pipe! And the situation is not improving. The brigands become more daring with every day. I demand you deal with the situation."

"I'm glad you mentioned this, sir. We do have a solution prepared. This..." - General Hague produced a small, portable holo-projector, and activated it, bringing fort an etheral image of a spaceship - "is an Icarus-class scout. Originally they were devised for surveillance and recon, along with insertion of special forces personnel behind enemy lines, using their atmospheric flight and planetary landing ability. Nowadays they are used chiefly by IPX as long range scouts and survey vessels, since after the Minbari War EarthForce had no use for them. Until now that is. We intend to turn the scout-class into a gunboat/in-system monitor. The basic Icarus comes armed with four light pulse cannons. Our variant will see the light pulse guns replaced with gatling pulse cannons of the type used on Thunderbolt Furies, and added an extra tail gun emplacement. Additionally, there will be a long range quad-barreled interceptor gun, placed in a turret under the bow of the vessel – a typical chin-mount in other words."

As Hague spoke, he also operated the holo-projector via a small remote, highlighting various parts of the craft on display.

"To increase flexibility and long range punch, aside from an internal missile bay located in the main hull, each wing will sport hardpoints for the new line of advanced anti-ship missiles which are about to enter service. The craft will also incorporate our latest in terms of sensors, communications, tracking and targeting systems and so forth. It will have excellent interceptor grid capacity, due to the supreme firing rate of the gatling cannons. Even without any changes, the Icarus-class is very fast and manouverable. With the extra weapons added, EarthForce will gain an excellent tool to counter the Raider threat. As the Icarus-class is capable of both atmospheric flight and planetary landing, each will carry a squad of 12 GROPOS for boarding and surface operations, further enchancing it's flexibility. We will station them throughout our space - each outpost, colony, supply station, refuelling facility and transit point will have at least one squadron assigned on permanent basis for patrol duty. Each squadron will have 12 units, in four flights of three each. We will also work with shipping companies to work out a convoy system." Hague emphasised his plan.

"Thus our new monitors will take over the law enforcement tasks, such as convoy duties, trade route patrols, random inspections of freighters and transit points to counter smugglers, and so on. Other then that, they'll have one more role to play, more on that later. They will be fast enough to run down Raider Battlewagons, armed well enough to gun down their fighters, and take care of anti-smuggling operations while at it. We aim to field enough units to cover all the "blind spots" within and around our space, eradicating the Raider threat once and for all. This will bring another bonus as well – give us a cadre of skilled junior officers. A mere lieutenant can command a monitor, and lieutenant commander a flight. A commander will be in charge of each squadron. The General Staff will keep a close eye on how they perform, and put the most promising officers on fast-track to promotion. "

"Sounds impressive enough, but the Raiders attacked Babylon 5 with impunity. How is a small gunboat, or a monitor how you call them, going to fare better then an armed spacestation with fighters?"

"The truth is, Mr. President, that while B5 is armed, it's weapons grid and tracking systems are obsolete – a situation we intend to address over the next few months. They suffer from outdated weapons with inadequate firing arcs, and their organic fighter support isn't the latest thing either. This came to be due to cost-saving measures, and to avoid giving the impression of renewed military adventurism. But the crew of B5 did manage to destroy or capture all of the Raider fighters involved in the operation, even if the Battlewagon got away. To his credit, Commander Sinclair did see through the Raider deception aimed at luring the fighter squadrons away from the station, and managed to get them into a crossfire. But as you said sir, it was only half a success. We intend to retrofit B5 with our latest weapons, and equip the fighter squadrons with Thunderbolts instead of Auroras. Plus, a monitor squadron will be stationed there on permanent basis as well. The monitors are small enough to dock with Babylon 5, so stationing them won't be a problem, and their presence will allow us to counter the Raiders in a much more vigorous manner. But as for the monitors taking on the Raiders in direct combat – it's a combination of factors. First and foremost, the Raiders are in for the profit. Gunning after at best weakly armed freighters is one thing, going up against EarthForce is another. Once their casualties start to climb, they are sure to seek their luck somewhere else. The attack on Babylon 5 was if anything, an exception to the rule, prompted only by the extreme value of the Centauri artefact they stole, along with the potential ransom for the abducted Centauri noble. And while it was very bold of them to risk an operation like that, the loss of their entire fighterwing is sure to put them out of action for a while. However, we are almost sure to hear from them again."

"How so?"

"The Raiders stole a priceless artefact, and abducted one Lord Kiro. Our spies in the Centauri Court have reported that the artefact has indeed been returned, again by the ambassador Londo Mollari. With no extra cost to the Republic. The abducted Lord Kiro is yet to resurface however. From this we can only surmise that ambassador Mollari had recovered the artefact, probably by having paid the ransom for it, but not for Lord Kiro. One of our theories is that the entire thing had been in fact arranged by ambassador Mollari in the first place, being a part of their internal powerplay. We do know that it was the Republic that paid the freelancing archeologists who recovered the artefact in the first place, our sources on Centauri Prime have confirmed that. Ambassador Mollari was a liason between the Court and the freelancers. The artefact was delivered to the ambassador, then turned over to Lord Kiro, who was supposed to deliver it to the Court. Instead, Lord Kiro managed to get himself abducted, along with the artefact. And just as when everybody thought the thing was lost, and they'd probably have to pay for it again, far more then the last time, we see the thing recovered by ambassador Mollari. With no financial involvement from the Republic, all while nobody hears from Lord Kiro ever again. If our assumption is correct, ambassador Mollari had set this thing up, to increase his standing at the Court all while getting rid of a competitor."

"Interesting theory, general. But back to the gunboat issue."

"Of course, sir. As I was saying, gunning after defenceless, or at best lightly armed freighters is one thing, while going up against EarthForce another. Once they start not coming back from their raids, they are bound to stop and rethink their plans. And they will start not coming back. The Raiders use chiefly obsolete Zephyr-class fighters, as everybody knows. They do sport some salvaged or outdated alien designs, mainly Narn and from the League, but it's a rare thing. The primary armament of the Zephyr consists of two bolter cannons, secondary of missiles on external hardpoints. The missiles are almost never used, due to high cost per unit and availability reasons. The bolters are underpowered, have low rate of fire, and are best used within 100 to 150 kilometers of range – past 200 they are perfectly useless. Our gatling cannons are positively murderous within those distances, and can reach out to 500 kilometers, while the long-range interceptor to over 700. To close distance and bring their weapons to bear, the Raiders will have to approach under fire. With no way to shoot back. Our simulations show it would take at least a dozen enemy fighters for any of them to even survive the approach. A battlewagon can carry up to some 20-odd fighters, and if they are willing to sacrifice at least half and gamble the other half they might, just might, take out one monitor. The gun placement on the monitor allows us to direct 4 out of 5 gatling guns forward, with the forward arc augmented by the long range quad-interceptor. Each gatling covers most of it's own respective half-sphere. All gatlings can be directed aft-wards, so that the monitor can move away from the pursuing enemy all while hosing them with fire. Sir, there is no way the Raiders can afford to go up against our monitors with the sort of attrition rates they are going to suffer. Not that all to many of them will get the chance to report back, once they run into our monitors somewhere out there."

"And that, General, is excellent news indeed." Clark grinned widely. "The people who pay the taxes need to know and see that the government cares for them, and does something about the problems they face. Removing the Raider scum from the spaceways will make a perfect demonstration of our will and ability to protect our citizens. You have my full support for this one. But you also mentioned changes in our ships of the line?"

"That is correct. While the discovery the Cortez made changes everything we think we know about our past, in terms of changes in doctrine and hardware it actually plays into our plans.

First of all, as I've mentioned before we intend to get rid of all of our older designs, and focus on the Omegas for capital ships. Later, as the Warlock-class enters service, the Omegas will be gradually shifted to second-line duties. The need for long-range vessels, imposed by the Cortez discovery, changes little, as we were going to switch to ships with simulated gravity anyway. The only difference is that we will need to create a sufficiently strong expeditionary force, to make sure we are not threatened by whatever comes out of this. In terms of defending our territory, we plan the following two-fold approach: mobile assets made up capital ship squadrons, and local, in-system assets. Our ships of the line will be grouped into squadrons of twelve, and deployed as the situation requires. We have divided the solar systems in Earth's possession into three categories - key, border, and interior. Key systems, like Sol or Proxima, will see the biggest number of squadrons attached to them. Second biggest will be in our border systems, especially the ones facing any of the great powers. We do not wish to appear provocative, but will maintain a strong presence in there, as a visible deterrent and just in case. The interior systems, not as crucial like the key ones, and not connected directly to alien space, will see at least one squadron stationed. Two and more, if they happen to be connected to systems bordering great powers – the idea is that the forces stationed in the interior systems will be able to quickly reinforce our border battlegroups, while the interior systems themselves will see reinforcements coming from systems deeper into our space." Hague explained

"That's the capital ships alone. But in order to buy time for reinforcements to arrive, aside of capship squadrons there will be also significant defensive assets allotted to each system. The monitors were mentioned before – they will be part of the local assets, placed along the same lines as our Omega squadrons. Only difference – they will operate from each and any of our both space-based and planetary facilities they physically can. Indeed, one of their key tasks, aside of fighting Raiders and keeping the trade routes safe, will be to keep a close eye on our borders and neighbours. They'll be a part of our early warning system, capable of tracking and listening into what's going on out there. Other then the monitors, our defenses will see massed fighterwings, and finally Global Orbital Defense platforms. We wish to build up our local assets to such a degree, that they can hold on their own against anything short of a full-scale assault by a major power. This translates into up to ten monitor squadrons in our border and key systems, and for every monitor squadron no less then three Thunderbolt squadrons. All fitted with our latest antiship missiles. GOD networks will make the final touch, a hundred or more platforms around our most important locations on the border and in the key systems. Once we're ready with the buildup, and with our latest generation optical tracking systems added into the mix, even the boneheads would find us a hard nut to crack."

Hague smiled at that, he knew perfectly well the hardware just mentioned by him would come from companies that were chief sponsors of Clark's campaign. So his support for this was as assured as the next sunrise. EarthForce would benefit from it, Earth would benefit from it, and the General Staff would be in President's good graces. He had planned his game well...

"Well I certainly am impressed by all this, you seem to have put a lot of thought into it. I'll go over the details with my advisors, but so far I think I can safely promise you my support for your plan. I'm not sure about the financing though, you know how the Senate comittee can be. I'll do my best regardless." Promised Clark

"Regarding the financial part, sir, we do have an idea. If the Senate to loosen the restrictions regarding the export of military equipment somewhat, EarthForce could carry a part of the burden."

"Exports you say? Is this heading where I think it's heading?"

"Quite so. The hardware we wish to decommission is obsolete, but could still be useful for others. So with permission, we'd like to sell it as military surplus. We won't of course sell anything that might compromise our security, so things like key Interceptor Grid components are out of question, but the reactors, the guns, the engines, the life support systems and so on could be sold. We could even export computers, comm, sensor and targeting systems – all after thorough memory wipes and with watered-down software installed instead. The Narns should be interested in some of it, along with a number of worlds within and around the League. Especially the lower-tech ones would be very interested in acquiring some serious military hardware. This of course would give us the added bonus of them depending on us for spare parts and technical expertise, which would be very useful in political terms. We could tie a number of worlds into our sphere of influence that way. Maybe we could even get some to let us build military outposts in their space. We know the Sh'Lassen Triumvirate is in the middle of a civil war, they could use our material support, and we could use a base located in strategic proximity to both Narn and Centauri territories."

"I'll see what my security advisors think" Clark repeated. "But anything that generates money is bound to go well with the Senate. Thank you for your time General Hague, General Lefcourt."

Clark nodded to them, indicating the briefing was over.

"I believe you both have responsibilities, I won't keep you any longer."

The two officers stood to attention and then left, Hague with a slight grin on his face. All things considered maybe Clark wasn't gong to be such a bad leader after all.

...

Geneva, Earth, present day.

Clark was still enjoying what he liked to call the honeymoon period. Everything was bliss, never had anything felt as good as sitting in the plush leather chair of the President of the Earth Alliance. The great Seal hung behind him, the flaming torch and golden eagle of his world while before him lay the affairs of state. Most people imagined it was hard being President but at this point Clark considered it the simplest and most rewarding job on Earth, or off it for that matter.

He had been quick to stamp his authority, shuffle staff and replace certain key advisors with people he considered to be more reliable and in tune with the needs of Earth. In time he would create an administration based on his ideals, but that would take time. For now he had to work with the machine Santiago had left behind, flawed as it was.

Santiago had been necessary evil. After the war the people needed someone to blame, there were fingers that needed pointing and President Levy had been on the sharp end of that. While not entirely blameless Levy hadn't really deserved the grilling she received in the media, her conduct and stoicism in the war had been exemplary but in the peace people wanted a drastic change.

Santiago gave it to them, winning by a landslide in the 2249 election he largely discarded the exploration and colonisation policy of the Hauser and Levy years and adopted a home facing priority. The Alliance became more open to aliens, including increased settlement on Earth of alien businessmen and their families, something Clark was especially enraged about. Santiago was a huge supporter of the Babylon project and forced through funding again and again for the plagued project until finally one of the cash pits stayed in one piece long enough to switch itself on.

Santiago had wanted a friendly Earth, but this was not a friendly galaxy and his idealism was doing nothing but weaken Earth at a time when it should have been strengthening. It had to stop, and when Santiago got a second term Clark had realised that ultimately it wouldn't stop unless he himself would do something. So he did.

Now it was different. The Explorer ships were back out there, IPX was increasing in size and scale, all the minor projects Santiago had allowed under protest were expanding vastly. Of course Clark was aware of these projects, even if Santiago had been unsure as to their true nature. The real object of the 'Mineral dig' at Syria Planum on Mars, the truth behind the Icarus and Alpha Omega Three, the problems with Project Nemesis which cost Earth a precious Omega Destroyer in the shape of the Cerberus. What Santiago knew about these remained unclear, they were run by groups that were outside politics and the military, even with his dark connections in Psi Corps and beyond Clark only knew the basics.

Those connections had given him his job. Cultivated over decades they had propelled him up the ladder. They had bribed supporters, bought segments of the media, even arranged for inconveniant people to vanish into thin air. Clark didn't ask questions, he accepted the help for what it was. His friends had their own agenda no doubt, power, profit, whatever. At the core though they had the same net result in mind. A strong Earth.

The intercom on his desk buzzed as if there was an angry bee trapped within.

"Good Morning Dave." Clark spoke into the machine.

"Mr President." His private secretary answered. "Your meeting is here."

"Which one?"

"The assistant Director of Psi Corps and his aide."

"Oh yes, of course." Clark sat up. "Send them through."

The door to his room opened and allowed in the two men, one dressed in black and gloved, the other in a casual grey business suit.

"Gentlemen, welcome."

"Mr president." The Telepath greeted.

"Good morning Mister President." The aide smiled. "How are you settling in?"

"Very well thanks to you." Clark smiled. "You have my eternal gratitude Mister Morden."

"Lets just say you owe me a favour." The man smiled back smoothly.

While he was acting as a Psi Corps aide Clark knew exactly which of the two men before him had the greatest power. He knew who Morden was, or at least who he had been, a despair filled widower sent by IPX on the Alpha Omega Three mission. IPX and a sector of military intelligence were behind the mission, they knew what was out there but told very few people on the mission, the ill fated Icarus. Morden had come back from that place, that cursed rock on the rim of known space, and it appeared he had drawn the attention of someone or something back to Earth.

Normally that would have been enough to guarantee the former linguist a one way trip to the bottom of Lake Geneva, but Clark's backers had seen the opportunity he represented, a way to gain individual power and provide Earth with what it most needed, the ability to beat the Minbari.

They had all been aware of the Mars ship that led them to the dead world, the power and advancement it represented, a power these aliens were willing to share with a race full of potential. They saw great things for humanity under the right direction, and saw great things for Clark as that direction. Psi Corps had introduced Morden several months ago with a simple question.

"What do you want?"

Clark had wanted to be the President that gave Earth it's pride and power back, to stop aliens mocking humanity and make sure no one ever brought alien warships into Earth space again.

Morden had been quite pleased about that. His new friends were ecstatic.

And now here he was, the President, with the promise of advanced weapons and technology to even the field with the Minbari. He was off to a good start.

His two guests sat down before the Presidents desk and settled for their purpose.

"I'll come to the point." Morden began. "Your expedition on the rim, I've read the latest reports."

"I see." Clark said simply, giving nothing away.

"I've been speaking with my associates who seem very intrigued with this place, very interested in it's development."

"Is this where you warn me off Mr Morden?" Clark asked. "Tell me it isn't our time yet?"

"On the contrary Mr President, we feel this is a golden opportunity for humanity to grow and discover something new about itself."

The President received the news with healthy suspicion. "Is that so?"

"Absolutely Mr President, my associates were very impressed by how quickly you grasped the situation and firmly established a claim. They appreciate a strong and decisive leader."

"So I am presuming they have read the same reports we have?"

"Not in the way we'd understand it, but yes, they are aware." Morden smiled thinly. "You don't need to worry, your rivals will never find out about this from them."

"The new information turns my stomach." Clark grunted.

"How so Mr President?"

Clark fumbled through the papers until he found the right information. "Look at this, a study of remains found on the planet. Definitely human, but of several examinations they found no less than four distinct ethnic groups. Asian, European, Indian and African."

"Quite a cross section."

"Lab rats Mr Morden, these people were experiments, taken from their homes, flown away and placed together in a giant social experiment!" The President fumed. "Humans used as mere lab rats for experiments!"

"Indeed Mr President."

"Well now I hear some escaped and made it home, and they formed the bedrock of our society! Based on what these aliens taught them! Preposterous!"

"It is."

"Our civilization is human! Developed and built on human-made principles, not the ideals of a race that manipulates people and then pretends to be gods!"

"You have no idea how right you are Mr President." Morden agreed. "False gods who manipulate others, claim to be divine and demand worship they do deserve to be thrown down."

"Damn right they do!" Clark snarled. "I'm sorry these aliens died, because it means we can't go kill them ourselves!"

Morden let the President calm down a little, the subject clearly touching a nerve. He quietly took mental notes before continuing.

"My associates are an old race, as you know from their technology they have inhabited the stars for a long, long time. After you made this discovery I asked them to check their archives and look for similar records of this unknown race. I am here to share what they found."

Clark leaned forward. "Go on."

"As your team have deduced they were an old race, not the oldest but still more advanced than any race in this sector of space. The styled themselves as scientists, seeking to advance their knowledge. What was desire grew to obsession and morality fell aside."

"I knew it." Clark snorted.

"They took sentients from several worlds for their experiments. Some were grotesque medical studies, others were social in nature. What you have found was a world where one of their experiments occurred. An experiment with humans."

"What happened to them?"

"About ten thousand of Earth's years ago, a great war came to conclusion, a war between the mightiest of powers in the galaxy. They had to choose a side." Morden smiled slightly. "They chose poorly."

"So they are all dead?"

"We haven't seen them since." Morden answered. "My associates knew of this world but found nothing alive there so did not explore further, noting it as one more ruined planet."

"What about this other world, the place human survivors supposedly fled to?"

"We have no record of it. If it exists no one has been there in ten thousand years." Said Morden. "We think you should go."

"Could this really be a lost colony of humans?" Clark asked.

"There's no way to tell, just go there and see." Morden stated. "Very few races have explored that far away, there are mysteries there that only humanity will encounter."

"What do we say to our own people lost for ten thousand years?"

Morden kept grinning. "Welcome home."

"There are a few other considerations." The Psi Corps official added. "These people were close to an advanced alien race, we should be prepared for them to have access to advanced technology, items which could greatly help our development."

"My associates agree." Confirmed Morden. "The human desire to grow rapidly intrigues them, you should try to incorporate anything you find."

"It is good in theory." Clark said. "But let's say there are humans there and they do join us. What then? Suddenly Earth Force has to protect a planet well outside our established supply lines. How do we do it?"

"The answer is right there Mr President, the new generation of warships." Morden pointed out.

"Good, but not enough." Clark said. "General Hague tells me the Warlocks won't be ready for at least six years."

"I think we can do something to shave a few years off that." Morden offered. "But it will need a big increase in the naval budget, and becoming open to some fresh ideas."

"I have no problem with that." Clark affirmed. "I have duty to humanity, all humanity, to build a united and strong Alliance working together for all our security."

"A noble goal Mr President."

"I'm going to approve a mission, I have some of my best Captains out there, and some of my most loyal."

"We understand Captain's Maynard and Sheridan have excellent First Contact records. They seem a good choice." Morden nodded. "My associates especially applaud the choice of captain Sheridan for the overall command of this mission, in their opinion he is an excellent officer with great potential."

"And they are human." The Psi Corp agent pointed out. "I have one or two people with the IPX team, they'll go along too."

"This might be the most important first contact we ever make." Clark said firmly. "A new chapter in human history. We have much to learn from these people if they are still there."

"They will be." Morden said. "Humans are survivors."

"Then the mission will go ahead, and we will all wait eagerly to see what our people find out there."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3.

Unknown Planet

Day 29

IPX Designation Alpha Omega IV

It was hard to guess how long the tomb had remained untouched, certainly for a quite a few millenia at the very least. The weight of years hung heavy on its walls, ancient dust and dirt lined the floor and the stale unmoving air lingered as a curtain of inactivity throughout its cavernous interior. It was a snapshot, as constant and unchanging as the rocks themselves slumbering in peace without disturbance.

At least it was until Earth Force showed up and blew up the door.

The demolition charges were set to crumble the door in on itself rather than simply blast it apart and throw chunks of masonry across the potentially priceless relics in the tomb. The sequential explosion turned the door into pebbles and dust and shook loose dirt through the tomb, a cloud of tan coloured smoke drifting slowly from the entry point.

"Subtle." Eilerson raised an eyebrow. "Think we woke the dead with that one?"

"Lets hope not." Morito said with a hint of concern. "I'm not exactly thrilled at meeting a goddess who just got woken up after a thousand year beauty sleep."

"Woken by us blowing the front off her tomb." Eilerson added with a slight smile.

The cloud of dust began to disperse, falling back to earth or getting caught in the breeze and swept to some far corner of the planet. The way cleared, the phantasms of the past retreating back into obscurity offering a view of this sacred and hidden edifice.

"The construction here isn't as refined as the temple ruins." Eilerson nodded critically. "Maybe a bit hasty in its construction, made with simpler tools and a different type of stone."

"A work of man rather than gods." Morito guessed.

"Could be." Eilerson nodded. "Maybe there weren't any gods left by the time this was built, wiped out or driven off by whatever happened here."

"Not real gods of course though." Morito quickly corrected.

"No, of course not." Eilerson smiled. "After you then, Doctor Morito."

With hesitation the expedition leader peeked inside, scanning with torchlight and examining the inside of the tomb. Very slowly he stepped inside, checking the floor and walls as he did so. It was with much trepidation that he proceeded, wary of every bump and sound. He was on edge, tense, and when a hand thumped on his shoulder he couldn't help but emit a squeak of surprise.

"Come on Morito!" Eilerson slapped him on the shoulder. "This isn't the Temple of Doom!"

The younger expert stepped confidently around Morito and shone his light back and forth. Most prominent in the room were a set of beautifully carved statues so well preserved they could have been made yesterday.

"I don't understand, what an odd set of statues. Humans and animals."

"It's absolutely incredible." Eilerson smiled. "Don't you see?"

"I see some people, and then a fish, Lion, Goat even…"

"Or to give them their actual names, Pisces, Leo and Capricorn." Eilerson informed. "Along with Gemini, Virgo, Scorpio. It's the Zodiac, visual representations of the Zodiac."

Morito laughed. "This is Earth Force playing a prank on us! They sent a ship here before us and left this!"

"I don't think so, and neither do you."

"But its impossible, the Zodiac originated in ancient Babylon! This place predates Babylonian civilization by thousands of years!"

"And a hell of a lot of lightyears too." Eilerson added. "Yet here it is."

"They were made as images of constellations visible from Earth! No where else can the stars be seen the same! How could they know?"

"We wanted to find something special, here it is." Eilerson grinned widely. "The implications of this are amazing."

"It could overturn everything we know about human civilization."

"Yes, it really could." Eilerson agreed. "Imagine the lecture fees..."

"Just wait a second, before we get carried away." Morito held up his hands. "The human remains here are old, but don't predate humanity on Earth, so we know that we are still native to our own planet."

"Correct."

"But the civilization here predates what is accepted on Earth?"

"More or less."

"But they have cultural motifs from Classical Greece which is supposed to have come later?"

"Yes."

"Good, I just wanted to make sure that I was really, really confused. And guess what, I am!"

"Keep looking, look for some writing or pictographs."

The two scientists started scrutinizing the chamber.

"This gets more and more disturbing." Morito grumbled

"The Zodiac?" Eilerson asked. "Maybe not, a lot of primitive societies worshipped the sky and the stars, looked up to the heavens and saw gods. What you see here may be a precursor to the Ancient Greek beliefs, just like the architecture."

"That would mean that whoever lived here came back to Earth."

"Yes, it would wouldn't it?" Eilerson smiled. "Distant origin."

Morito scoffed. "That's just dumb."

"Well I doubt our new President would be fond of the idea, but never mind."

"We evolved on Earth."

"Biologically, yes. But as for our culture, well just look at this and tell me it doesn't overturn everything we thought we knew about the classical era."

"Depends which came first, this place or our own Ancient civilizations." Morito considered.

"We'll see what the more precise dating turns up."

Eilerson paused, his light catching something. "Bingo."

"What is it? What do you have?"

"An inscription, a long one." Eilerson informed. "Same language as before, definite variation on classical Greek."

"Can you read it?"

Eilerson gave him a condescending look. "Please, it's me you are talking to."

He turned back and squinted at the text, mentally forming the words.

"Here is the account of the last days." Eilerson quoted. "Of the flight from Kobol and the sundering of the Thirteen."

"Kobol?"

"Must be the name of this place." Eilerson said. "Interesting, the word has its roots in eastern religion, one more cultural precursor."

"So what else does it say?"

"For many lives the Children of the gods made their home here. The Thirteen Tribes formed thirteen city states, and would gather at the temple of Athena each year to give thanks."

"The temple on the hill side we are excavating?" Morito asked.

"I would think so." Eilerson agreed.

"What else?"

"Under the protection of the gods we prospered. Then came a time when the gods quarrelled and a great sorrow befell us. Many were slain as fire rained from heavens and the gods battled each other in their star chariots with sun rays and star bursts."

"Sounds like a description of a space battle."

"You think?" Eilerson answered drolly. "The great cities fell to dust and ruin and the Thirteen Tribes were ravaged by flame and cloud. Those who lived despaired, for the end of days seemed near."

"That would account for what happened here." Morito observed. "A major conflict and invasion."

"But then, hope." Eilerson read. "The great goddess Hera presented us a series of ships prepared for us. Chariots of the gods commanded to take us to our new home, a sanctuary long prepared by the gods for such a disaster. She raised her eyes to the brightest star in the sky and told us we would be safe there, we could prosper in the new garden, and we rejoiced."

Morito said nothing, fascinated by the unfold implication.

"But of the tribes the Thirteenth did not choose to follow. They had departed earlier, turning away from the Promised Land given by the gods. They had set their hearts on a legend, they desired to return to the cradle, to the long forgotten birth place our tales spoke of. They desired to return to Gaia." "Eilerson paused. "Earth."

"Holy…" Morito felt his words fail him, the magnitude of the inscription growing every second.

"Now I end this account, for I too must leave." Eilerson finished the inscription. "May the gods return to us one day, and may our new home be a sanctuary forever."

"This is… it's just… I mean…."

"I couldn't agree more." Eilerson stepped back. "Follow the pattern. These presumed gods take primitive humans and bring them here. They teach them the basics of civilization, philosophy, art, science. Then something goes wrong, an attack, and the humans flee. But some come back to Earth, create their own civilization and teach the humans left behind all they know. And so begins true civilization on Earth based on this model."

"It can't be, there'd be records…"

"There is a record, Ancient Greece." Eilerson said. "Maybe more, one of the other digs found what could be Egyptian style architecture. We could be stood at the epicentre of human civilization!"

"I don't believe it." Morito shook his head. "This is too big."

"It gets better, you missed the most important part." Eilerson grinned. "Where are the other Twelve Tribes?"

Morito blinked. "Of course, they fled!"

"And we know where they went, a star visible from here." Eilerson replied. "We just need to wait until it gets dark, go outside, find the star that matches and have the Cortez plot a course."

"You actually think they made it?"

"Maybe, maybe not. Either way we have no choice but to investigate." The scientist grinned widely. "Exploring the past to create the future, that is what IPX does. We have a chance to unravel the story of how humanity dawned. We have to follow this lead."

"This is too big for me, I'm going to have to get permission from the Chief Executive, and I bet he has to go right to the President."

"Then I suggest you make the call fast, sooner the better."

"This might be the biggest discovery in history. You were right."

"I'm always right." Eilerson chuckled. "You better go, I'll stay here and keep looking."

"What for?"

"A dead goddess of course." He shrugged. "Should be a first."

Eilerson let Morito go before continuing. In his opinion the project leader was more of a politician than a scientist or businessman. He was a reasonable enough a choice for a project leader, a good organiser and a man willing to accept the opinions of people smarter than himself, like Eilerson considered himself to be, but personally Morito didn't really have what it took.

Eilerson could name two people whom he considered worthy to lead this mission. The first naturally was himself, he had the knowledge and acumen to do the job and well, but didn't have the connections in places of power. At least, not yet. Hopefully this dig would be his big break, he'd already uncovered massively valuable artefacts and information, in theory he should be made for life.

The other was Professor Chang. A first rate scientist and leader who had unfortunately died aboard the Icarus. Officially anyway, but rumours running around IPX cast doubt on the official story of an accident. Eilerson himself had been on the short list for that job, but had lost to another linguist called Morden. By all rights Morden was a much inferior linguist to Eilerson but as with most successful people he likely had the right friends in the right places. Of course it turned out to be an unexpected bonus for Eilerson after what happened next.

The Icarus was still a name to be wary of, like the Flying Dutchman or Babylon 4, a cursed name rapidly gaining something of a cult status in IPX circles. Eilerson had known a lot of those people, either directly or those associated with them, and indeed it had just turned out that the husband of doctor Anna Sheridan took command of the military escort. He had to admit to be feeling a little safer knowing there were heavy weight warships in orbit, led by the greatest living soldier in EarthForce, the legendary John Sheridan. But he still had concerns. Based on the power of whoever attacked this world even a destroyer group would probably be badly outmatched.

Still, it was better than nothing and might buy him the time to run for his life.

First things first though. He clicked on the flashlight again and began scanning the walls, looking for further information about these people and who they were. The nature of the humans who had been here was of great concern, but the biggest question on Eilersons mind were who or what these gods had been?

Then there was the mistery of this place. It was a tomb but offered no indication of a coffin or sarcophagus. It was possible the coffin was hidden but the structure gave the impression of something built hastily, something that would not have well planned out ante chambers and pit falls.

His mind therefore went to graverobbers. If the coffin had been well decorated with precious items then it could have simply been stolen. On Earth it was a thing common enough, but out here there was no evidence of any visitors at all. The tomb looked undisturbed, and the remaining statues in the chamber were untouched and intact. Graverobbers would have certainly stolen them as well.

With that ruled out he went onto the next progression, was this Athena even buried here? That was less certain to answer, the tomb could have been prepared for her but never actually occupied. Maybe they were forced to flee early or maybe something happened to the body before it was interred here. It was possible, but they had still sealed the door from the outside which would be odd in an empty tomb.

He had one more thought, Athena was buried here, but did not stay dead. It seemed a bit outlandish but Eilerson had learned not to take anything for granted, especially when dealing with completely unknown races. Nobody knew a think about these alien gods or their abilities. This Athena might just have been hibernating for all Eilerson knew, or the people who buried her.

Whatever the answer this place was a mystery to be solved. Eilerson reached into his toolbelt and took out a small scanner, proceeding on his survey by the book. His first task was to look for residual energy signatures that might show left over technology. There had been some indication of semi-active technology when the mission first landed, hopefully this tomb held some of it.

"I sent the message." Morito walked back in. "But EarthForce refuses to send it via comm for security reasons, the Cortez will carry it once it departs in three days."

"So six weeks for the trip home, and another six to get back here... Assuming EarthGov is quick about it." Eilerson responded. "Anyway, we've got plenty to keep us busy here. Come look at this."

Morito walked over and looked at the scanner Eilerson was holding.

"Energy signature."

"Pretty faint, but there is something in here." Said the scientist. "Something dormant I'd guess."

"Can you tell where?"

Eilerson moved the scanner back and forth a little, searching for the strongest signal. "Above us, in the roof. Actually, just there."

He went and stood beneath a section of the ceiling, looking like plain rock. He stretched up and tapped it with the scanner.

"Sounds hollow." Morito remarked.

"Doesn't it?" Eilerson agreed, lowering the scanner and searching for another tool.

"Might be worth trying to cut through, maybe…"

There was a loud crunch as Eilerson slammed a crowbar into the roof, shattering the thin ceiling and clattering clay to the ground.

"Bloody hell Max! What in…"

"Relax Morito." Eilerson stepped back. "It was hollow remember, plenty of space for a little tap."

"If you've damaged…"

"I said relax, look."

Morito followed Eilersons stare to the roof and into a cavity opened within. Nestled there was some sort of alien device, silver and radial looking wholly out of place in the tomb. It had a small light in the centre which was slowly blinking on and off.

"Jackpot." Eilerson grinned widely.

Both men looked more closely at the device.

"What is it?"

"I haven't got a clue." Eilerson was still grinning. "Lot of transparent material on the edge, could be a receiver or transmitter of some kind. Maybe a projector. We should activate it."

"Let's just catalogue it first shall we?"

"Where's your sense of adventure?" Eilerson mocked jokingly. "Anyway, that central light, it's just screaming 'press me' don't you think?"

"Eilerson, don't even…"

Too late. He reached up and pushed the red light, making it recede into the alien device and change colour to green.

"Basic green and red colour scheme. Lets hope this is where the safe and danger associations with those colours came from, or we just might be in for trouble."

There was a loud click, and then behind them a section of wall began to sink into the ground with a grinding scrape.

"I knew it! Secret passage." Eilerson beamed. "I'm never wrong! Hah!"

Behind the opening wall lights flickered on illuminating a straight and smooth corridor beyond.

"Fresh power readings." Morito confirmed. "We must have switched something else on."

"Lets go have a look."

"Now wait, we should bring along some armed guards, or at least more people!" Morito cautioned. "At least report back on where we are!"

But Eilerson was already in the corridor and proceeding on, and with a sigh Morito followed.

"Can you feel that?" Eilerson ran his hands along the corridor walls. "metal. The humans here had no capacity to forge metal of this quality. Whatever this is it was built by the aliens who settled our ancient ancestors on this planet."

"If it's still operational after all this time, that's one hell of a long term power source." Morito said. "Better than the Minbari one we acquired."

Eilerson stopped. "You found a Minbari power source?"

"Well, not exactly found." Morito admitted. "I don't know why or how, but the chief of security on Babylon 5 had a motorbike, and somehow he managed to convince one of the Minbari staff to make it run on a Minbari power cell."

"How the hell did he do that?"

"I don't know, but he did, couple of months ago." Morito said. "When we learned a member of EarthForce had some Minbari tech we… errr…"

"Broke in and stole the bike?"

"Yeah. But he was in a coma at the time. I think he still is, at least was when we left Earth space for here."

"He's gonna be pissed when he wakes up and finds his bike gone."

"Hopefully it'll never be mentioned ever again." Morito shrugged. "Like it never happened and the Minbari never just handed over what is probably classified tech to their rivals."

"Bet the warrior caste would be pissed." Eilerson grinned. "Good."

They proceeded on several hundred yards and turning a few corners until the space began to open up ahead.

"Well at least by the corridor size we know the aliens are roughly human sized." Eilerson considered. "But I'm betting we're the only humans to actually see this side of the tomb."

The moved further, and came to the end of the corridor. The narrow walls opened up into a wider circular chamber, well lit and smooth. Only one object sat in the room, a blocky square construct right in the middle.

"For my money," Eilerson pointed. "I'd call that a tomb."

"I'd think you are right." Morito agreed.

The two men entered the chamber carefully, looking for any sign of danger or decay in the structure. It was as strong and intact as if it had been built just yesterday. The block in the middle of the room was some nine feet long and four tall, fairly standard dimensions for a tomb. It was made of the same metallic material that lined the walls.

"Amazing." Eilerson ran his hand over the top.

"What does that writing say?" Morito pointed to an inscription on the tomb.

"It just says „Athena"." Eilerson answered. "This must be it."

They stood in silence for what could have been a minute, just contemplating the object before them.

"An ancient burial site." Eilerson smiled.

"Resting place of a goddess." Morito said quietly.

"Wonder how much this metal is worth?"

"You think she's inside?"

Eilerson shrugged. "I know a good way to find out."

"Wait a minute, do we really want to do this?"

"Do we what?"

"Should we open it?"

"It's our job Morito, it's why we are here."

"We don't really know what we're dealing with."

"Something that died about ten thousand years ago." Eilerson grunted. "Now if you could move out of my way?"

Hesitantly the senior scientist did so, and Eilerson wedged his crowbar under the lip of the tomb.

"This isn't a horror vid." Eilerson said. "It's just science."

The lid popped open, and with a squeal Eilerson forced it off, dropping it to the floor with an echoing boom. Nothing happened, no ghosts, no vampires, no spectral hand shooting into the air. Nothing.

Slowly and carefully Eilerson advanced, peering over the edge of the tomb with the curiosity of a schoolboy. Morito, unable to resist, joined him and looked inside.

"A skeleton!" Morito exclaimed.

"What were you expecting exactly?" Eilerson returned.

"A human skeleton!"

"Yes, a female as well." Eilerson confirmed. "Healthy, pretty young too I guess. Hello, Athena."

"So she was just a normal person?"

"Normal people don't get buried in chambers like this." Eilerson remarked. "I doubt even the normal rulers of the humans on the surface did. I think there is more to it."

Eilerson took a device from his belt and scanned the skull. A moment later a three dimensional hologram of it was projected from the device. As they watched computerised muscles and flesh were added to the skull, a computer extrapolation based on the bone structure of the skeleton to create a face.

"Quite pretty." Eilerson said as the image resolved.

"Could be Greek." Morito agreed. "Racial features suggest Mediterranean or Asia Minor."

"Very human." Eilerson said.

"Not alien." Morito confirmed.

"So why is she here?"

Morito considered the question. "Could the natives have considered her an avatar of Athena? Not unheard of in human culture."

"Maybe, but she wasn't buried by the tribes, she was buried by the aliens in here. Why bury a human hidden away like this?"

"I just don't know." Morito admitted.

"We need to get some forensic biologists down here. Crack her DNA." Eilerson said. "We need to examine these bones more carefully, something just doesn't fit."

He looked at the skeleton, some of the bones still draped in jewellery.

"There's definitely more to this, a lot, lot more."

-

"May you live in interesting times", went the ancient Chinese curse.

Ancient, and yet so very, very true.

Months, years, even decades could pass in one's life with nothing of any significance occurring.

Depending on one's point of view, this could be either good, or bad – some preferred the safety of repeatability and predictability, the day-after day-after day pattern, while others would be suffocated by it's monotony.

Come to think of it, change seemed a natural part of life, while the lack thereof was a sign of stagnation and atrophy.

Lothair I, grandson to Charlemagne, probably said it best - "Tempora mutantur et nos mutamur in illis" - "The times change, and we change with them".

But philosophical musings were one thing, and the harsh reality another.

John Sheridan had seen and experienced much, both during his years of service and his life in general, but this here... this was something else.

He could still remember the tide of "all-time-high" enthusiasm that came after the victory over the Dilgar.

Back then it seemed there wasn't a single thing outside of Earth's reach or capacity, and

Earth briefly experienced what the Centauri called the "Glory days of the Republic" - even if only for a decade.

And then came the cold shower of the Earth-Minbari war, with the bitter betrayal of the League of Non-Aligned worlds.

The war that uprooted Earth's self-perception of it's place in the Universe, in the Greater Scheme of Things.

Until this War, Earth believed itself to be atop the totem pole, only to be cast down to the very bottom after it.

It was then that the previous elation evaporated before the relentless Minbari onslaught, and became replaced by desperation.

And anger.

Anger that was still there.

Not officially, Earth depended on interstellar trade too much, but there were those who still remembered...

They remembered the flat out refusal of the League to honour it's mutual defence treaties with Earth, as they remembered the mercenary practices of the Narns, ripping Earth off in it's hour of need.

Those actions were neither forgotten nor forgiven.

John could still remember how embittered his father became in those bleak days, more and more each time Earth's desperate plea for help was turned down by the League.

The very same League that owed it's continued existence to Earth, and having once hailed Humans as their saviours turned it's back on them when the time came to return the favour.

So no, nothing was forgotten, and nothing was forgiven.

Most certainly not by him.

Yet... all that paled, indeed was completely insignificant, when compared to the planet below.

The impact of the discovery... would be impossible to predict or evaluate precisely.

One thing was certain though, once "it" came out, Earth would never be the same again.

The sheer gall the aliens responsible for all this had... Claiming to be not only gods, but actually creators of all Humanity, engineering an entire religion around themselves... According to the reports he read, those poor souls on the planet below were required to believe mankind was created by the "gods" making figurines of clay and breathing life into them – literally.

Which led him to an unsettling thouht – the religion of Ancient Greece was now clearly a product of, for the lack of a better term, "religious engineering". However, just about every major religion on Earth had elements that could well be explained as cases of highly advanced technology, used in front of, pretty much, primitives – given the times they hailed from.

As a 20th century author and inventor, Arthur C. Clarke, once stated, "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

Because what else, if not divine wrath, could a thermonuclear explosion be to ancient Hebrews from the tales of the Old Testament ?

Speculations were running rampant, on alien meddling in Earth's history and development.

Circulating among the crews were books by a 20th century writer, one Erich von Daniken, who claimed that „gods" were actually advanced aliens, and many key achievements of ancient cultures were made possible only because of alien help. In his days, the man was highly controversial, he was believed by some, while ridiculed by others.

Yet from the current perspective, it appeared his theories were in fact disturbingly correct.

Another unsettling fact, the IPX had corrected it's „timetable" of this displaced Human culture – apparently a simple hardware flaw caused the initial carbon dating to be off.

The current figures stated the planet below was abandoned not five, but no less then ten thousand years ago, and had been settled at least another five thousand years before that.

History books would need to be rewritten, even more so then expected, with the Human civilization being far older then ever assumed.

All sorts of crazy theories were in circulation, about possible links between the displaced culture below and legendary long-lost civilizations, like the one of Atlantis.

The key question on everyone's mind – just how far did the alien tinkering with Humanity reach ?

The president was certainly right to keep this issue tightly wrapped up and classified, until proper precautions could be taken.

But that wasn't for him to worry about. His job was to secure the excavation site on the planet, and the local solar system per extension.

After four weeks of back-breaking work since the day of their arrival, they were finished. At least as far their local presence in terms of space-based installations was concerned.

The marvel of components designed with rapid assembly in mind made it possible for a "trademark" doughnut-shaped station to be placed in the geo-stationary orbit above the dig site, going on-line just three days ago. The station was accompanied by half a dozed Global Orbital Defence platforms for extra „convincing power" in close proximity, and supported by dozens upon dozens of sensor buoys seeded throughout the system, just to keep an eye on the 'hood.

With the next haul, another two space stations would arrive, along with an extra dozen GODs. Plus even more troops and supplies, and maybe even a few extra destroyers – the planet was to become Earth's key stronghold in the area, and a springboard for future exploration and expansion. And of course, the displaced Humans needed to be located, and the potential threat of the alien „gods" needed to be assessed.

But for now, engineering crews were working around the clock on the surface. A large plateau had been chosen, rising around two kilometers above sea level, and about thirty kilometers distant from the main excavation site. With the plant life cleared, first thing to be completed was a small spaceport, and currently bunkers were being dug in, along with hardened fuel and munition depots. Defense grid with surface-to-air and surface-to-orbit weapons would be next, expected to be completed in two weeks. The base under construction would eventually grow into one of Earth's biggest military installations, a key supply facility to support EarthForce this far away from home.

But for now, whatever IPX had managed to pry loose, and a lot of it would make R&D people pull triple shifts, was being loaded onto the Cortez, soon to be shipped back home. This included the corpse of „goddess Athena", the recovery of which had brought the speculation frenzy to an all-time high. It was a good thing so few people worshipped the Greek Pantheon theese days, for had they found a „Jesus Christ" or a „Mohhamed"... That certainly would have made as much of an impact as the Centauri making First Contact.

But for now... There was still a lot of work to be done.


End file.
